Jon Udell, who also writes Byte.com's "Tangled in the Threads" column, has been watching developments in groupware and collaborative online publishing for many years. Udell was one of the architects who designed the Safari Tech Books Online service. In this monthly column, he reports on developments in blogspace and web services.

The Beauty of REST
By Jon Udell
Through his LibraryLookup project, Jon Udell finds that you don't need to understand what REST is in order to benefit from its use in a system. [Mar. 17, 2004]

The Social Life of XML
By Jon Udell
In this write-up of his keynote address to the XML 2003 conference, Jon Udell explains that the key thing about XML is the way anXML document
can become a shared construct, a tangible thing that processes and
people can pass around and interact with. [Dec. 23, 2003]

Interactive Microcontent
By Jon Udell
Adding behavior to data can make it a lot smarter. In this article, Jon Udell explores and experiments with the DOM API for making small sections of web pages and XML documents interactive and productive. [Oct. 8, 2003]

Language Instincts
By Jon Udell
There'll be no master plan to the Semantic Web, says Jon Udell, just a lot of talking, listening and imitating. [Sep. 17, 2003]

The Document is the Database
By Jon Udell
When we convert to a database-backed Web application in order to solve problems of shared editing and presentation-oriented file formats, we trade away the convenience of the file-oriented approach. Can we have our cake and eat it too? [Jul. 9, 2003]

Structured Writing, Structured Search
By Jon Udell
Jon Udell further explores the benefits of preserving structure in web content, suggesting that the availability of structured search for content could motivate the creation of the structured content itself. [Jun. 10, 2003]

The Semantic Blog
By Jon Udell
One of XML's promises is fine-grained, specific searching, but this doesn't come without a lot of effort in data preparation. Jon Udell looks for the sweet spot that marries spontaneity and structure. [Apr. 15, 2003]

Applied Network Theory
By Jon Udell
Jon Udell examines the recent hype over network-based approaches to organization. If, as Jon concludes, the network is not only the computer, but also the operating system and the software development environment, how might this impact your role as a software developer? [Feb. 11, 2003]

Services and Links
By Jon Udell
Jon Udell shows how Web services--such as Erik Benson's All Consuming book site, or his own project, LibraryLookup--which can express themselves in terms of links, are poised to create powerful affordances for use, for imitation, and for discovery. [Jan. 13, 2003]

Seeing and Tuning Social Networks
By Jon Udell
Software is catching up with what we know about social networks: the greater the reach of your array, the more effective an actor you can be within an organization. Jon Udell talks with two observers about software that maps social networks and the patterns revealed. [Jun. 4, 2002]

Blogspace Under the Microscope
By Jon Udell
Backlinks are creating a new kind of feedback loop among blogger systems. Jon Udell looks to biology for a metaphor of how information loops spur the development of increasingly sophisticated systems in nature, and suggests that informational trails will have a similar effect online. [May. 3, 2002]

Jon Udell: Instant Outlining, Instant Gratification
By Jon Udell
Jon Udell says the new Instant Outlining feature of Radio UserLand 8.0 turns it into something he's been waiting years for: a tool that keeps messages and attachments in context, and helps us get out of the swamp of email. [Apr. 1, 2002]

Jon Udell: Radio UserLand 8.0 Is a Lab for Group-Forming
By Jon Udell
Radio Userland 8.0 brings together blogging, cross linking, RSS syndication, referrer logs, and FTP upstreaming to create a topic-oriented web of smart people. Jon Udell says it's the laboratory for online group-forming that he's been awaiting for years.
[Mar. 1, 2002]

Quick and Dirty Topic Mapping
By Jon Udell
If you've ever tried to map out a taxonomy for an existing or future body of content, you know it can be a frustrating exercise. Here's a strategy for creating a taxonomy from the bottom up rather than top down -- including the Perl script to run it. [Feb. 4, 2002]